In immigration news: May Day, the politics of immigration reform, how Senate bill might benefit some deportees, more

In Southern California, generations of immigrants are creating an evolving definition of "American." Multi-American is your source for news, conversation and insight on this emerging regional and national identity.

Demonstrators at a Los Angeles May Day rally for immigrant rights in 2009. The last major immigration reform attempts in Congress in 2006 and 2007 drew large crowds of supporters to marches around the country, but these events have grown smaller in recent years.
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Advocates hope May Day march focuses on immigrants - Associated Press From the story: "For the past decade, immigrant rights advocates have used the march to push for reform, but the number of people marching has steadily declined since the mid-2000s when Congress last attempted to change immigration law." Last year, anarchists who rioted in Seattle took center stage. A Los Angeles march is among several planned around the country.

Immigration splits senator from mentor - New York Times On a split between Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and former senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who endorsed Rubio early on: "In 2007, Mr. DeMint was instrumental in helping to kill legislation to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, and now, six years later, Mr. Rubio, Republican of Florida, is a pivotal member of a bipartisan Senate group that has written a bill that would do just what Mr. DeMint was fighting to prevent."

Mexico: Traffickers abandoning immigrants at sea - CNN Mexican naval officials say they have been rescuing about 150 people on average per month who have been stranded at sea, with smugglers leaving them adrift: "As part of the scam, officials said in a statement, traffickers tell the migrants that there has been an equipment failure and promise to return but never do."